No need to boil water
Port Aransas supply safe to drink
BY MARY HENKEL JUDSON SOUTH JETTY EDITOR

The water in Port Aransas is safe to drink.

A boil water notice issued, Tuesday, Aug. 14, by the City of Corpus Christi does not affect customers of the Nueces County Water Control and Improvement District No. 4, which supplies water to Port Aransas and Mustang Island south to the Corpus Christi Fire Station.

Water district superintendent Mark Young called the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) upon receiving the boil water notice Tuesday afternoon, "and they claim we are not involved. Our sampling has been satisfactory, and we are not involved in the boil notice."

While Port Aransas water is safe to drink, it may have a strong odor and taste of chlorine - and it may take on a pink hue.

The water district switched to a free-chlorine process from a chlorine-ammonia treatment on the recommendation of the TCEQ, water district manager Mary Moss said. Adding ammonia reduces the smell and taste of chlorine, Moss explained.

Residents may refrigerate water or put it in a jug and shake it to help dissipate the taste and smell or chlorine, Moss said.

The water district buys most of its water from the City of Corpus Christi where low water usage resulted when residents did not water lawns thanks to heavy rainfall in July. That rendered chlorine treatments ineffective in fighting bacteria. Since the water district has its own chlorination facilities at each pump station, chlorine has been added here to compensate. The district also added ammonia to the mix.

However, late last week the TCEQ recommended that Port Aransas and other communities that buy water from Corpus Christi discontinue adding ammonia and go to the free chlorine treatment process.

Moss said the amount of chlorine in Port Aransas water has remained consistent. The lack of ammonia, however, may have residents thinking there is more chlorine in the water because of the stronger smell and taste of the chemical.